beat my muscles
Sparticus773
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I often workout, and I just heard of this today. My buddy was telling me about an article he read about how some people would punch the muscles they had just worked out, or hit (not too hard) with a hammer or hard object. The whole concept is that lifting effecticly rips muscle tissue, and you get stronger because your muscle rebuilds, only rebuilds better. Well, if you were to beat the muscle, it would rip it up even more, resulting in stronger muscles afterwards.
I went ahead and ran an expiriment. I have been working out to the point where I am not sore anymore (not a big feat, anyone who lifts regularly for a week or two will no longer be sore). I did chest workouts yesterday, and then used my first 3 fingers, braced with my thumb to pound on my left pectoral muscle. Today, my left pectoral is sore as if I have worked out for the first time yesterday, while my right pectoral muscle is acting normal, (sore when stretched).
Has anyone heard of beating muscles to gain muscle mass and strength? Is it dangerous? Is it counterproductive?
I went ahead and ran an expiriment. I have been working out to the point where I am not sore anymore (not a big feat, anyone who lifts regularly for a week or two will no longer be sore). I did chest workouts yesterday, and then used my first 3 fingers, braced with my thumb to pound on my left pectoral muscle. Today, my left pectoral is sore as if I have worked out for the first time yesterday, while my right pectoral muscle is acting normal, (sore when stretched).
Has anyone heard of beating muscles to gain muscle mass and strength? Is it dangerous? Is it counterproductive?
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I dont see how this works the same for muscle though.
You hit your muscle, and its sore...
interesting
XBL
That's one of more stupid theories I've heard on muscle building. At best, it's going to make you sore. At the worst, it will interfere with your actual progress and possibly cause damage.
Gaining mass and gaining strength is done through two different processes. Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy and myofibrillar hypertrophy.
When you gain mass, you are typically adding more sarcoplasm, which is the fluid in between your contractile fibers: the myofirbils. This is typically accomplished by higher repetitions and lower weight.
When you gain strength, you are doing two things. First, you are training your CNS to trigger all the myofibrils that are in a muscle group at the same time. This is "recruitment". This is a big part of strength training. The beginner gains everyone sees when they start lifting is from the recruitment effect and not muscle hypertrophy. The other part is you are creating microscopic tears in the myofibrils and as these get repaired, you gain more contractile muscle.
Beating the muscles has no impact on gaining mass and/or strength. Your friend may have been confusing that with a deep tissue massage, which helps more with recovery by bringing more blood flow into the muscles. And a deep tissue massage is a lot more uncomfortable than getting hit.
Yeah this was my thinking when i first read this thread.
It's an interesting proposition to destroy muscle tissue further to make it break down more, but you're really just running a risk for injury.
i'd say this is the best answer I have gotten so far.
Although I was suprised at how many people were opting to put me or the theory down instead of just answering my questions. Anyway...I'd say my question was answered one way or another. Thanks guys.
Yes, because your theory was so unutterably fucking stupid that I can't believe that anyone could possibly have even considered it. I also can't believe you're legally allowed to use a knife and fork.